Dad, Blaine and I are together now
by soundsaboutright
Summary: Title says it all...  Since the show didn't provide me with this scene, I had to write it myself...  Kurt - Blaine - Burt
1. I

Since the show didn't provide me with this scene, or something similar, I had to write it myself...;)

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><p><strong>Dad, Blaine and I are together now<strong>**...**

Kurt listens to the repetitive tooting of the dialing tone. His heart beat seems to climb higher in his throat with every sound that renews itself. Shaking his head at the sensation, he takes a deep breath and wills it down.

It's not that he hasn't done this before, of course he has. But notwithstanding, this still feels so very fresh and unaccustomed to him. Now that the parameters have been changed.

There's some static, or a short rustling, he can't really tell. And then his boyfriend's voice: "Kurt?"

Kurt can't help a smile spreading on his features. Boyfriend. The word alone makes his insides tingle.

"Hey, Blaine..." More noises of movement, a click and some soft clattering.

"Oh, Kurt... hey...Wait... I'll just put you on speaker... okay. You're good..." Blaine's cadence colours up: "Hey, Kurt, I'm already in my car and on my way to you..." He sounds serene and Kurt connects immediately to the anticipation showing through below.

He laughs: "I can hear that, Blaine..."

"So, what's the matter?"

Kurt blinks. The matter. Right. He sighs. It's too easy to just lose oneself to that voice, but of course he's had a reason for calling. He shifts a little on the edge of his bed, where he's sat down, tilting his head to the side and smoothing the covers out with an absent-minded swipe of his hand.

"Oh, nothing much, really... I just wanted to let you know..."

"What?" It sounds more playful than worried. Kurt sits up straighter, his heart skipping a beat when he doesn't even know why.

"Well, I... I've told my dad today. You know, that we are together now." The silence in the line lasts only a moment.

"Oh. Okay." A little hesitant, but unbothered. Kurt shrugs for no one to see and plucks a little lint off his pillow.

"So... I just wanted to let you know, before you arrive, so that you know... that he knows...and, well, you know, where we all stand..."

Kurt can hear Blaine breathe at the other end of the line.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure... Well, what did he say? How did you tell him?"

Kurt smiles at the warm curiosity in Blaine's voice. He clears his throat:

"Oh. That was actually a little strange..."

"Yeah? How?" Blaine's tone is still light. Kurt takes in a deep breath:

"Well, let me first say, it is not like I've been _actively_ keeping it from him since, you know, two days ago. I actually thought he would be able to tell by my grin alone when I came home, well after... _that_ rehearsal." Kurt can't keep down the flutter in his stomach at the mere mentioning of it, and a small stumble reaches into his speech when he goes on:

"But, well, as it turned out then, he wasn't in the house when I arrived, and the next day he left town early to get some spare parts from this retailer friend of his and..."

"Kurt..." Blaine sounds amused, but Kurt just skates over it, even if a self-deprecatory smile spreads on his features at his own babbling as well:

"Yeah, anyway. I was almost about to tell Carole first, just because I felt I had to tell _someone_, but I thought I wanted to tell them together, or my dad first... and then I called Mercedes, so I had at least one outlet..." Kurt takes a short moment to breathe and swallow. Blaine doesn't interrupt, but Kurt can just imagine him grinning at the rushed torrent of words pouring from his phone's speakers. Kurt checks himself and continues a little more calmly:

"So. I really wanted to tell my Dad before we'd go to Regionals, so when he came into my room earlier, when he'd heard me rehearsing... well, I told him about that last minute duet. And then I told him I had finally found that someone, who was not afraid to sing with me... even a more or less romantic duet on a big stage... "

"Oh, come on, Kurt, it _is_ romantic... We'll make it so..." Blaine's cut him short, and Kurt chuckles lightly at the dreamy enthusiasm about Blaine's words. He sighs. Oh, yeah. _That_. Regionals are in two days, after all, and that presents Kurt with not too much, but then again quite more than enough time to get really, really nervous...

"Yeah, well anyway." He heaves another sigh and then his fingers resume to pick at the sheets. "He said he was glad to hear that, my dad. But that we shouldn't take it too far, even at an event like that." He kicks aimlessly at a hamper with washed socks in front of his bed and snickers softly. "I don't know, I suppose he thinks that somehow a show choir competition must be a rather gay-friendly environment, or something... " Kurt lets it hang in the air for a moment, and thinks that he hears Blaine blow out his breath in a way of laughter. He quickly adds for good measure:

"He didn't mean no harm, though, I could tell, he was just concerned. So I told him, that I wouldn't, that _we_ wouldn't, that that was not what this was about. And then it just blurted out of me, and I said that we are together now." They fall quiet for a moment and either one seems to just listen, as if they could hear the other one's thoughts, if they only tried hard enough.

"And?" It is Blaine who breaks the silence, and his voice comes out a little breathless. It affects Kurt's own words in just the same way:

"And then he just looked at me kind of strangely for a while."

Another silent second stretches.

"Strange how?" Blaine tries and has his voice flow almost calmly, but Kurt can trace the agitation underneath. He swallows and aims for composed again as well:

"Well, nothing too unusual, I guess. I mean I had expected some kind of...of..." Kurt's eyes search the ceiling for the right word, but he can't seem to find it, so he just lets it go. "I don't know. Anyway, then he asked for how long. And I told him that only since two days ago. Then he said 'huh'."

"Huh?" Blaine repeats in question, a bit startled.

"Huh." Kurt nods. He listens as Blaine lets out a long breath.

"Kurt. You've known your dad longer than I, what does that mean?"

Kurt raises his eyebrows for no one to see:

"Well, I don't know in that context, I've never had to tell him something similar..."

He shrugs and listens to the short pause at the other end of the line.

"Huh." A little helpless now.

"Mm." Kurt confirms again.

"No, I meant... Never mind." Blaine's voice trails off, and Kurt begins to stare hard at the socks in the hamper at his ankles. He tilts his head at them, pondering his next words:

"Well, then it actually got even stranger..."

"How?" By now Blaine obviously struggles to keep the worry out of one short syllable.

"He asked me how I knew we were together. I told him that we had said so. After you kissed me."

The warm flutter rises in his guts again, but Kurt pushes it away for now, and puts his focus into what he has to say next, even if his voice comes out a little small:

"And then he wanted to know if you did try anything else."

"What..!.?" Kurt can as much as hear Blaine's jaw drop. He hurries to display his own indignation, gaining spirit:

"Yeah, I know? That's what I told him, I mean, I said, Dad, you know Blaine, I mean, you've seen him... he just wouldn't..."

"I... I wouldn't..."

"Yeah, I know, and then he said 'Yeah, I think I know Blaine alright'... " Kurt swallows but adds without taking another breath: "And I really have no idea what he meant by that."

The stammer of Blaine's protest has ebbed away with his own voice, and Kurt blinks at the sudden absence of sound. When the silence stretches, he shifts uneasily on his bed.

"Blaine, you still there?"

The answer is not more than an incoherent mumble.

"I... no...oh. " The dread in it indicates that some idea must have come to Blaine. Kurt feels his own eyebrows shoot up as well.

"Blaine, what?"

"Oh god, I..."

Kurt can't sit still anymore. "What Blaine?" He bounces unconsciously on the mattress over the force of his tone.

"I think I might know... he was referring to... I might know, why he... Kurt, I have to tell you something... that is, if he hasn't already told you...?" Blaine's voice rises in question at the end, and Kurt finds himself answering in the same manner:

"No...? Blaine, what...?" Could his boyfriend just spit it out already?

"I.. Oh jeez, I realize this is gonna sound a little... Kurt, promise you won't be mad..."

Now, that does not much to calm Kurt's nerves.

"Blaine...!"

"Okay, okay. So I might have gone to see your Dad last week and... encouraged him to take advantage of your guys' great relationship, to talk to you about... sex."

A blink. A swallow.

"You did _what_?"

"...and now I can't deny that in this context, this looks a little..."

"Wait a second..." Kurt's mind just won't seem to catch up, still working at the last big bit of information. He pins the bridge of his nose between thumb and index finger.

"So you did... you said... oh. Oh my."

Blaine's voice is rather small. "Yeah... Yeah. And now I realize that this might shed an entire new and... quite dubious light on you telling him now, that we're..."

"Wait." Kurt rubs at his forehead. "Let me just get this straight: You mean, you asked my dad to give me the talk and a week after he did... you're my boyfriend?" Kurt waits for his own words to sink in.

"Oh, so he did?" Blaine's question startles him.

"What?"

"Give you the... you know." Blaine's voice is tentative. Kurt gasps:

"Yeah, Blaine he did. Thanks for that by the way." He mutters that last part rather under his breath, but there's no real heat to it. He doesn't want to do it again, but their talk had not been that bad, after all.

Blaine cautiously clears his troat: "Well, what did he say?"

Kurt snorts and finds himself pointing his finger at no one in particular.

"Blaine, don't distract from the topic at discussion, I..."

"Yeah, yeah, sure... Jeez, I realize how this must look..." There's a tinge of desperate in Blaine's tone. And then a soft plea:" Kurt, I hope that at least _you_ know that... that _that_ was not my motivation..."

"To talk to my dad back then?" Kurt settles back on the bed, the tension slowly leaving him a little.

"Yeah, that, too, but also to become... boyfriends. There's... so much more to it all..." Blaine's voice drifts, and it gives Kurt a vivid mental picture of his boyfriend, biting his lip, brow furrowed, frame taut with apprehension and worry.

And just at that, something inside Kurt shifts.

He lets out a long breath.

When he speaks again, all about it is a display of affection and warmth, and it comes so easy to him, that it makes him smile.

"Blaine, I know." And he does. Kurt rubs the bridge of his nose once more absently, then lets go. "I believe you. I think I finally have gotten to know a bit better how your mind works. Or doesn't work, rather, when you yourself are concerned."

Blaine's reply is hesitant, but gentle:

"What do you mean?" There's real interest in the question.

Kurt leans back into the pillows and closes his eyes. He tries to sound light, yet most of all honest:

"Well, you kind of had me learning the hard way... with Yeremiah, and Rachel, that you weren't as sure of everything as you let on. Especially when it comes to your feelings."

Blaine lets the words linger for a moment, acknowledging their truth. "Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. I think I fool myself that way most of the time."

Kurt's eyes open again, and he speaks through another smile:

"Don't be sorry. It made me see you clearer for who you are."

There is a short moment of silence. Then Kurt can hear the smile around Blaine's words as well:

"And you still became my boyfriend."

Kurt's gut tingles again at the statement and he makes his answer a caress in itself:

"Exactly."

Kurt thinks he can hear Blaine grin for a moment, even if he knows that should be physically impossible through the phone.

Then Blaine's mood seems to suddenly change again, voice strained once more:

"Kurt, I went to your dad that day, because I was concerned about you. Because... I cared. I thought it was the right thing to do."

Kurt nods rather to himself.

"I know. Blaine. I know you act out of the best intentions. Always."

A breathy noise escapes Blaine's lips at the other end of the line:

"Now, that makes me sound like a total failure..." It could have been a snort, but it ends in laughter, albeit an a bit wry one. Kurt presses his phone closer to his ear.

"No, Blaine, come on, you know you're not, and that wasn't what I meant..." The laughing becomes softer, but it is still full of sarcasm:

"'He means well, but he just can't seem to get it right'..." Mock words, spoken dryly.

"Blaine, stop it." Kurt's voice is brimming with endearment, despite the clipped imperative. Blaine checks himself at once, calmer again:

"I'm sorry, I know that's not what you were saying. I just... oh, god."

Kurt sighs his agreement on the last part. He twirls a strand of hair between his fingers, then pushes it out of his forehead.

"I have to admit, it is a very... unconventional thing to do, to go to your friend's parent and tell him... what you told him..." Kurt props himself up on one elbow as his curiosity gets the better of him. "Blaine, just what _exactly_ did you say?"

There is some static again, and Blaine doesn't answer right away. Kurt can hear some clicking sounds as well, probably from the indicator. When Blaine speaks, it is with a rushed stumble:

"I...oh, I... Kurt, can I tell you the story later...?" Kurt blinks, taken aback. Blaine hurries to explain:

"I think I took a wrong turn just then, I'll have to... can we talk when I'm with you?"

Kurt can't help a smile at Blaine's flustered tone.

"Oh, you still plan on coming?" It is a joke, but Kurt almost regrets making it, when the line goes silent for a second, and he thinks he can hear Blaine swallow.

"Sh... should I not?"

"Of course, Blaine, I'm kidding." Kurt laughs warmly. "Can't promise though, that my dad won't want to have a word with you... " He's resumed a mock serious manner of speaking once more, and when Blaine doesn't react, Kurt is quick to add with another chuckle:

"But I promise, I won't let him strangle you..." Again, it was meant to reassure, but ends up as one more joke that has Blaine on the edge, and Kurt winces.

"Kurt..." Blaine draws out the syllable and it is more question than reprimand. Now Kurt puts all his effort into a soothing and unagitated intonation:

"Relax, Blaine. Just come. It'll be alright."

Kurt speaks through a smile and slowly, Blaine seems to relent a little.

"Okay... okay. Good. I'll see you in about 20 minutes, then... I guess."

It still sounds tense, but for now, Kurt has to content himself with that. He pours all his affection into his voice once more.

"Yeah. See you then."

"Yeah, Kurt. Bye."

Kurt ends the call, and lets out a long breath. His hand with his cell sinks down beside him onto the covers.

Huh.

And for quite a long moment, that seems to be the most apt way to express his meaning, that his mind can come up with.

.

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><p>This is written as a two-shot. Chapter two, that will complete this, will be up by Friday, I promise.<p>

Chapter two will feature Burt as well... and him confronting Blaine.

But let me know what you think so far!

Review, pretty please!


	2. II

When the bell rings, Kurt is down the stairs and at the door only moments later, short of stumbling through the last steps, already reaching out for the handle.

Before he even gets to touch the door knob, though, he hears a low grunting sound of a grumble behind him.

Kurt freezes in the movement, heat rising to his cheeks immediately at getting caught. Great. He can't help but brings up his shoulders a little. So much for hoping to smuggle Blaine in, without having to confront Burt right away. Kurt huffs and turns with slight defeat to see his dad scuffling out of the living room towards him.

"Dad, please..." He shakes his head at his father, eyes narrowing.

But Burt only cuts him short with a tilt of his head. "Just answer the door, Kurt."

He meets Kurt's gaze full on for a moment and Kurt's shoulders slump. His father's green eyes are serious in their usual no-bulls***-kind of way, but they are not hostile. Not in their depths, that is.

The posture that Burt puts on display, though, is certainly meant to be one of authority. Poor Blaine. Kurt braces himself, more on behalf of Blaine, really, and opens the door with a sigh.

In a way of an advanced apology, he gives his boyfriend the warmest welcoming smile, and Blaine mirrors it for a second.

Then he obviously notices Burt over Kurt' shoulder, standing a bit down the hallway, arms crossed over his chest, leaning in a dangerously casual way against the wooden sideboard. Blaine's face falls a little.

"Oh, Mr. Hummel, hi. I..." He falters slightly as Burt doesn't stir once in his stance, silently waiting and staring, the only movement the raising of his eyebrows. Kurt throws his father a look of reprimand, and tries again: "Dad, please." But Burt ignores him, bringing up his chin even more, leveling Blaine with his eyes.

Kurt sees a debate on Blaine's face about what to do next. A wave of compassion rises in him. The expressive play of those eyebrows would be nothing but adorable, if Kurt didn't feel so bad for Blaine for having to go through this.

Kurt is almost smiling at the thought, when a jolt of resolution seems to suddenly run through his boyfriend, straightening his spine.

Then Blaine steps inside, letting the door fall shut behind him.

Kurt's mouth twitches. Cutting off your exit? Very doubtful move, Blaine. Kurt's hand jerks up to his mouth. He knows he shouldn't be amused at the whole situation, but yet Kurt has to stifle a chuckle. His dad still seems unimpressed, though.

Blaine brings up his hands as well, even if in an entirely different gesture, facing Burt directly. "Mr. Hummel, I...Let me just say, that I am aware how this must look..."

"Oh, are you...?" Burt's voice is another on-dragging growl, as he pushes himself off the low sideboard with his hip, and cocks his head at Blaine, taking one slow step forward, arms still locked across his chest.

Kurt's eyes widen at his dad. He knows his father can become rather protective, but just as sure as he is about that fact, he is certain that Burt would never attack Blaine, not like he attacked Karofski. Kurt just _knows_.

Blaine on the other hand doesn't have the luxury of that knowledge, Kurt muses.

The things Blaine knows about Burt are based only on Kurt's stories and those few times, when he'd been at their house. And with Burt usually not mingling in their affairs, when Kurt has friends over to visit, Blaine hasn't really had much time to get to know Kurt's dad.

Kurt presses his lips together. And then of course, he's not 'just a friend' anymore now.

Starting to feel kind of protective himself, Kurt stands a bit straighter beside his boyfriend, opening his mouth to say something.

Before he can, though, Blaine cuts in, holding his ground, his chin drawn back to his chest a little, but his voice not wavering. Almost not.

"Yeah, I am aware." His eyes flicker up to hold Burt's stare. "Because Kurt told me, he told you... and then I told him, what I had told you..." Burt blinks a little puzzled for a fleeting instant, and Blaine falters, furrowing his brow at his own wrestling with words. Kurt's hand is at his mouth again.

But then Blaine seems to finally come out on top of it, and tries again, voice clearing: "I told him that that I came to see you last week and I... Mr. Hummel, I had no hidden agenda whatsoever then. Nor do I have one now."

Kurt's look flits over to his dad.

"Mm." Burt draws out the throaty noise, shifting his weight on his feet, and with a tilt of his head narrows his eyes again at Blaine.

"You know what I don't get?" His tone is too calm, almost friendly. But his whole demeanour belies that impression. "I mean, you come across as a rather smart kid." Burt slowly shakes his head at Blaine. "You wanna tell me you never thought for a second that you might be that guy? At that party? That you threatened me with?"

Huh. Kurt's really curious to hear the story of what Blaine actually told his dad by now.

Blaine actually gasps: " I... I never meant to threaten you with anything, I... and no." At the last part, Blaine's voice settles.

Burt's brows arch even more: "No?"

Blaine lowers his eyes only for a second, then collects himself and meets Burt's stare after a short breath: "I...I mean as much as I like to come across as... smart, or... knowing... I..." His voice fails him shortly again, but he quickly braces himself: "The truth is, when it comes to myself, to my feelings... my brainpower just seems to fail me ever so often... and I seem to be the last one to make sense of them..."

Blaine's look is a little apologetic, but above all straight and sincere, and Kurt's heart clenches at the sight.

Blaine swallows and continues: "I honestly didn't have a plan that day, I mean to... get with Kurt. I..." His hands gesture a little helplessly, but he never breaks the eye contact with Burt. "I tend to act on impulse, sometimes, do what feels right to me... and I just wanted... "

He falters. Kurt can see him struggle for the right words, watches Blaine's lips form sounds when his voice won't seem to catch up. Then Blaine lets it go with a final shrug. "I just didn't _know_. Back then. Not like now."

Burt blows his breath out of his nose.

"One week, kid. What has changed in _one week_?" His tone is still harsh, but Burt's eyes have softened a little, though they are unceasingly glowering at Blaine. Kurt can see the faint glint in them, but he's not sure his boyfriend can tell as well.

Blaine just hunches his shoulders up again, then lets them fall.

"I don't know. Everything?" His features twitch lightly, and he gingerly shifts his weight. "Maybe my brainpower has finally caught up with me, after all, with that insight a few days ago, that that's what I want to be... boyfriends... " Kurt lips press together and his lashes flutter down at that half-hearted attempt at a joke, even as Blaine's voice already trails under Burt's doubtfully raised eyebrow. But then again, it's just that, Kurt muses with an inward chuckle: Blaine finally got smart.

Blaine huffs and stands a little straighter, bringing up his hands again, the reasoning tinge to his tone coming to him more easily this time:

"Please, Mr. Hummel, I know you'd do anything to protect your son, that's why I came to you in the first place. If you..." Blaine steels himself and searches out Burt's eyes once more. "If you get to know me, you'll see that I care just as much about that, I mean... that we want the same thing."

Kurt's heart dances in his chest, and his body is flooded by a warm hazy feeling welling up inside. His look flickers from Blaine to his dad again.

Burt is studying his boyfriend for a very long moment, his mind working visibly behind thoughtful eyes relenting more by the minute. Kurt turns his head back to Blaine and the movement distracts Blaine away from Burt's scrutiny for a second. They exchange a short glance and a shy smile, before a low voice makes them jerk towards Kurt's dad once more.

"Blaine." It's not so much Burt's tone, but the way he addresses Blaine directly, that demands their immediate attention. And makes Blaine square his shoulders unconsciously again.

"Yes, Mr. Hummel?"

Burt's posture has loosened a bit, the tension fading from it gradually even as they watch. Kurt lets out a relieved breath. His dad rubs one hand across his mouth and chin deliberately, before he speaks:

"Blaine, you come across as quite mature for your age... " Burt's brow twitches and he adds a little under his breath, but still audibly: " I don't know, maybe it's that uniform... or that hair..." Kurt has to pull himself together to stifle a grin, while Burt indistinctly gestures to all of Blaine.

But Blaine doesn't flinch, and Burt continues unerringly: "And maybe I have a bit of a distorted standard for that, you know, because Kurt, he's so...well, you know him, you said it yourself, he is moral and mature and compassionate, he just has a knack with people, you know, he simply _gets_ things... and I..."

Burt's look flickers back and forth between Blaine and his son for a moment, and then he leans against the sideboard once more in an impulse. It is technically the same pose as before, but now Burt's powerful frame slumps in a way that has a decided air of lazy evenings on the couch. Not one of alert, anger and aggression anymore.

Still, Burt makes his tone reasonable, but there's also that trademark tinge of annoyed amusement to it, that Kurt recognizes so well from many past conversations between them. It means his dad is coming around, but still wants to make a point.

Burt looks at them respectively:

"What I'm trying to say is, that I forget with him sometimes," he inclines his head towards Kurt, then turns back to meet Blaine's eyes: "And I think I did with you, too... that you're both actually still kids."

Kurt's chin jerks up in the lightest of movements, but his dad already brings up his hands good-naturedly: "I know you don't want to hear that, and I know one can be confused about their feelings and make mistakes as an adult just as well... but I have been sixteen, too, it's been some time, but I do remember some of it..."

He looks at them as if expecting a wry remark or at least some rolling of the eyes, but all he finds are waiting expressions, so he goes on:

"I'm saying that it actually fits. I mean, Kurt doesn't tell me all too much, but from what he's told me... it fits." He must be referring to Blaine's 'experiment' with Rachel, Kurt thinks. When Blaine spent the night drunk in his bed. Because he surely hasn't told his dad about the romantic slip with Yeremiah.

Burt goes on, by now a half-smile tugging at his lips. "And what's more, I trust Kurt's judgement. " He doesn't glance at his son this time but instead mutters under his breath with humour: " Most of the time, that is." Kurt throws him a look, but there's no heat in it. Burt shrugs it off anyway and addresses Blaine directly once more, voice rising a bit:

"I'm saying I believe you, kid, maybe mostly because I want to." At that Blaine's eyebrows jerk up once more. Still Burt keeps his tone matter-of-fact: "Because I've seen how he is with you. And I do think your heart's in the right place, even if your head isn't from time to time."

Before Blaine can even react to that, Burt points a raised finger at him, eyes narrowing again a little: "But just you know, that... concerning everything else from now on... I will hold you to that standard you put on display."

He gestures at Blaine again. "You know, all that... well-bred, well-mannered, well-disciplined gentleman school boy appearance... I'll hold you to it, and I'll have an eye on you..." Burt speaks the words distinctly and emphasizes his meaning with his finger jabbing at the air.

Kurt actually blushes, because he knows too well, what his dad is hinting at now. He is not so sure, though, that Blaine has gotten it quite the way Burt meant it, but his boyfriend brings up his hands once more, voice all quick assurance:

"Of course, I mean, you can... hold me to that, I mean I would never..."

"I'll stop you right there..." Burt cuts in with another good-natured chuckle, and Blaine just stands with mouth open, not too certain, obviously, what has just happened. "For your own sake."

Burt has muttered that last part rather to himself and is now looking up at the two of them for one prolonged moment, head shaking silently, hands loosely on his hips. But he seems amused more than anything else now.

He takes a deep breath. "Anyway. I said what I wanted to say. Good." And then he actually turns and moves to trot back into the living room, not without inclining his head in the smallest of invitations: "Now, since I can't be there the day after tomorrow, do you want to tell me some more about that duet you're doing?" There's a twinkle in his eyes.

Kurt swallows and takes a moment to marvel at his dad with affection.

That's Burt for you, straightforward in everything he does and says, be it criticism or praise. He might appear grumpy, strict or a little blunt to the outsider, and he can be quite intimidating, when you threaten what or who is dear to him, but in the end he never means anything but well.

Kurt smiles. He respects his dad, his positions, his efforts. So of course, he has and will try to do his dad justice, and take responsibility. Sometimes maybe even too much.

But then there's always times when he just is a teenage son, too.

And so Kurt may act embarrassed in front of friends at his dad's rigid set of rules and his protective streak, when he overreaches, but at the end of the day, Kurt knows what is at the very heart of it. Always.

And, it is all in the eyes, when you know where to look, Kurt muses. They tell it all.

It's a trait that runs in the family.

Blaine stirs beside Kurt, mouth still slightly ajar, and that finally sends a jolt through Kurt's body and he remembers there was a question.

He stands up taller, and jerks into action, voice tentative at first: "Dad, Blaine actually came here, so that we could... rehearse... that duet some more, because it still needs some... work... "

On the edge of his sight, Kurt sees Blaine's shoulders hunch up, and hazel eyes grow slightly wider, probably dreading that Kurt is risking to much right now, going too far, treading on thin ice.

But Kurt aims for his best unbothered tone: "So what do you say, if we did that, rehearse, I mean, and later we could give you a sample...?" He doesn't waver and holds his dad's probing look. He knows himself this must sound quite... well, transparent, but then again, didn't Burt just say it himself? He had been sixteen, too, once upon a time, so maybe, after all that drama he's put them through, he could remember that now...

Burt shifts his weight on his feet again, and his stare wanders back and forth between Kurt and Blaine once more, the latter struggling visibly so stand straight and not blink all too much.

A grumble. Then a sigh.

And then -if in fact for nostalgia's sake or something else entirely- Burt does turn with a growl to head for the kitchen:

"Off you go, then. Carole will be home in a minute, anyway, she'll want to hear that sample, too, later on." He squints back one more time at them. "So I will call you when dinner is ready." Kurt thinks to nod, and Burt huffs another tired grunt in their direction. And then he's gone.

Kurt lets out a long breath. Then his looks falls on Blaine.

Blaine's posture next to him has slumped a little the very instant Burt was out of sight.

Yet Blaine still stands frozen to the spot for a moment longer, gazing after Kurt's father in what Kurt assumes must be amazement. Well, some minor after shocks of adrenaline may be joining into the mix as well. Kurt smiles and reaches for Blaine's hand.

The contact makes Blaine jerk out of his transfixion, and he turns impossibly wide eyes at Kurt: "That... that..."

"That went well, didn't it?" Kurt finishes for him with a relieved chuckle.

Blaine's mouth falls open again in disbelief, and Kurt just grins at him, clasping his boyfriend's hand more tightly.

"Come on, Blaine, what I meant is, you did well. You got though it, and it's over, so..."

Blaine's look drops down to their joined hands when Kurt takes one step back and increases the pull. Then he meets Kurt's eyes, and Kurt pours all endearment and shy promise into the connection.

"So, what do you say we go upstairs and... _practice_ some more, like I said we would?"

He watches the change on Blaine's expression at the word with relish. That reaction was just why he avoided to use that term earlier.

That here is just for them, after all.

So he strokes his thumb gently across the back of Blaine's hand and mirrors the slow smile that Blaine gives him, obviously recovering quite well now from the last few minutes' strain at Kurt's suggestion.

Eventually Blaine nods.

And with a grin Kurt turns to tug his boyfriend behind him up the stairs.

* * *

><p>Review, my darlings, pretty please!<p>

I'll never not remind you, haha, because I just really want to know what you think!


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